15 – Apprenticeship

It was well past midnight when Vivi retired. Thanks to the festival, finding an inn with a free room turned out to be an ordeal, but at least the more expensive ones weren’t fully booked—and she had enough coin to convince her way in.

She discovered the wonders of magic for a second time as she prepared for bed. Washing up and drying was as simple as casting a few spells. Her hair handled the magical wash remarkably well too, coming out straight and glossy without need for brushing. That alone made [Tidy] a contender for her second-favorite spell.

It even worked for brushing her teeth. She thought. It left her mouth feeling clean afterward, at least, but she might prefer finding toothpaste. She felt weird not going through her usual hygienic routine. Did this world even have toothpaste?

After the events of the day, she was quick to pass out. She’d been feeling the tug of tiredness for hours now, and while it was easier to ignore in this body than her previous, she suspected that despite all her levels she would want sleep every night. Levels didn’t immunize her against basic needs, though if she needed to, she could probably ignore them for quite a while.

Having horns changed the bedtime dynamic. If she hadn’t preferred sleeping on her back rather than her side or stomach, it might have been a rather annoying change in her physiology. As it was, the protrusions didn’t bother her. She slept fine.

A magical timepiece woke her on the nine o’clock bell. She groggily rolled around and almost fell back asleep before forcing herself to her feet with disheveled hair, which she cured with another [Tidy]. Yes, definitely one of her favorites.

She had two errands to run before heading for the Convoy, the colloquial term for the train system in this world. Both were at the guardhouse, so she [Blinked] there after a quick breakfast.

The supply requisition had gone through, so Vivi had the materials needed to renew and improve the enchantments securing the two criminals, who had thankfully not escaped. They were being watched over by a man with a green badge on his shoulder, now. Orichalcum rank. Vivi doubted anyone would be wiggling away from that kind of surveillance, especially with the other protections layered in. And a set of massive debuffs, which she recast on the two prisoners before leaving.

Next, she found the Guard Captain. Their conversation was brief. He’d gotten in contact with the Institute, and apparently they were extremely interested in her thanks to the ‘intriguing observations’ and ‘novel mana current diagrams’ she had made, which Marcus had relayed in conjunction with her the night before. Apparently they wished badly to discuss the topic via scrying table, and had impressed the fact on the Guard Captain. But Vivi declined and left shortly, and he didn’t try to stop her, perhaps sensing that between annoying the Institute and annoying her, the former was far more preferable. She refused to get mixed up further in the city’s business.

Of course, she would be following up herself on the potential danger of the dimensional anomaly when she arrived in Meridian, and would be checking in on Prismarche with [Greater Warp], but there wasn’t much else to do since the anomaly seemed stable and was slowly healing itself.

The Institute—the world’s nexus of magical knowledge—would be able to make more headway researching it anyway. Vivisari was a genius with magic, but mostly in regard to practical applications. She’d been able to sense the anomaly and decipher the mana currents to categorize it, but anything beyond that, she didn’t know where to begin. The problem was too complex. Maybe if she could see such magic cast in real-time, she could reverse-engineer it.

Loose ends tied up, she went and found Saffra at the Adventurer’s Guild.

The redheaded catgirl was slouched over at one of the tables on the far end of the open lobby, her head in both hands. Her tail and ears were both drooping.

Vivi frowned. Had something happened?

“What is it?” she asked as she walked over to the teenager.

Saffra jumped. She’d been so lost in thought she hadn’t heard her. She gaped at Vivi. “Did you—did you change your mind?” she blurted out. A flush immediately colored her cheeks. “I mean, i-is the plan the same?”

Vivi raised an eyebrow. Was that what she’d been stewing over?

“I had business to handle, but it’s taken care of. I’m ready to leave. You’ve packed?” Vivi’s eyes flicked to the brown rucksack to her side. “It’s not an issue, leaving so quickly?”

“No. No issue. I’m ready.” She bolted to her feet and scooped up her pack, like if she didn’t hurry she risked the whole arrangement falling through.

Vivi nodded, turned, and headed for the door. She had no business in the Adventurer’s Guild, nor had she made any contacts she needed to say goodbye to. She’d deliberately been avoiding getting entangled in Prismarche, in fact, so it was impressive that she’d been involved in no less than four debacles.

The pair of them didn’t make it through more than a minute of walking through Prismarche’s streets before Saffra blurted out, “Can I ask why, at least?”

“Why what?”

“Why me? You weren’t supposed to say yes!”

“I wasn’t?”

“Not that—I don’t mean—it just doesn’t make sense.”

“It makes sense to me.”

“But why?”

Vivi mulled over her response. She did have her reasons, but explaining them to Saffra probably wouldn’t go over well. To some degree, it was protectiveness and sympathy, and she doubted Saffra wanted to hear that.

“Because you’re the kind of person I want to teach,” Vivi said, and it was the unblemished, if not full, truth. If she could pass down some of her fortune, Saffra would make a great recipient. Her heart was undeniably in the right place—she seemed like a good person. What better trait could there be for an apprentice? “Not that I expect I’ll be good at it,” Vivi amended.

Saffra seemed to struggle through that response as they walked. In the end, she didn’t press. “You said you were ‘occupied’ for a long time. Several decades. And that you need a guide and helper you can trust. What did you mean by that?”

She noted how Saffra didn’t ask what she had been busy with. Maybe she didn’t want to push her luck by prying.

“Things have changed since I’ve last mingled with society. I’ve forgotten a lot. Since I don’t want to draw too much attention, it’s convenient to have someone who I can ask questions of.”

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“Questions? That’s it?” She could feel Saffra giving her an extremely dubious look. “Also, you’ve been avoiding attention?”

“I haven’t been doing a great job, I know.”

She almost added that Saffra was at fault for that, with the biggest debacle being the Morningstars, but decided even allusions to that event were best avoided.

“More than just answering questions, though, tell me when I’m doing something strange. Especially if it’s common sense, or a lapse in etiquette, or such. Point out the obvious. There’s no need to be overly respectful.” She spared a sideways look at the girl. “I don’t think respect is your strong suit, anyway.”

Saffra sniffed. “I could call you Mistress Vivienne if I was absolutely forced to,” she joked. “But I’m not sure about more than that.”

She immediately snuck a worried look out of the corner of her eye to check how Vivi interpreted the words. She was definitely still nervous around her, and Vivi didn’t think that would change for a while. They were strangers, and she could tell Saffra trusted slowly.

“Definitely don’t call me ‘Mistress’,” Vivi said, grimacing at the idea. “Vivi is fine.”

The idea of being given that title didn’t sit right with her because, while she wasn’t a fraud in the literal sense, since Vivisari’s magical knowledge and talent had been packed into her head and thus she did have the credentials to teach a young mage, she nevertheless felt like she would be deceiving Saffra. Being called ‘Mistress’ as if she was some wizened sage didn’t appeal to her for a number of reasons.

“So that we understand each other,” Vivi continued, “what are you expecting out of an apprenticeship? Practically speaking.”

Saffra hesitated. “Well, the apprenticeship itself, of course,” she started.

Vivi tilted her head. She could tell she had missed something. Saffra sensed it too.

“The apprenticeship. Um. The status.”

“The status?”

“For…apprenticeship,” she said somewhat dumbly. Disoriented for a moment, she asked, “Is this one of those things you mentioned?”

“Always assume it is. I told you not to be afraid of stating the obvious.”

Saffra seemed to perk up at that, funny enough. Maybe because she was happy she could help meaningfully with something as simple as common knowledge.